• Auditor shouldn’t be punished for doing job • Dairy farm could be smelly • Earth Day bad time for ‘eco-terrorists’ • Don’t miss ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ Auditor shouldn’t be punished for doing job Glenn Mickens letter to
• Auditor shouldn’t be punished for doing job • Dairy farm could be smelly • Earth Day bad time for ‘eco-terrorists’ • Don’t miss ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’
Auditor shouldn’t be punished for doing job
Glenn Mickens letter to the Forum (TGI, April 8) “Too many executive sessions on auditor” made a lot of sense and raised many important questions.
How is it possible for our auditor to do the job he was hired to do and then get threatened with firing because his fuel audit uncovered a serious irregularity in the way our mayor was using county gasoline?
In any of his audits, auditor Ernie Pasion does not go after anyone or anything but follows standard auditing guidelines and lets the facts speak for themselves.
The old saying that “if the shoe fits, then wear it” is what has happened and Mr. Pasion cannot be blamed for the outcome.
As Mr. Mickens said, there must be a serious flaw in our system when we have had 27 executive sessions regarding our auditor and what he has accomplished and still no finality!
We need change and we need it badly. How about the county manager system that is being talked about? We cannot afford to lose honest people like Mr. Pasion, so let’s make sure changes are made.
E Lynn Spears
Kapaa
Dairy farm could be smelly
First of all, I want to say that I am in favor of the development of agriculture, especially when it is planned responsibly and with the best interest of residents and environment in mind. My grandmother, Alice Gagner, was the first woman to graduate with a BS in agriculture from Montana State College (now University) and lived on Kauai until 1958 as the UH Extension home agent for the island.
Her son managed sugar plantations on Kauai throughout the 1950s. My dad’s family raised animals and produce on the Big Island for centuries. I am very aware that we simply cannot live without agriculture!
Regarding the proposed dairy in Mahaulepu, I have several environmental and cultural concerns. However, even if the people of Kauai do not share my concerns, I think the people of Poipu and Koloa in particular will share a very practical concern for all of us.
While I was attending seminary in Southern California, I lived and worked in Ontario, several miles from the dairy farms of Chino. Let me just say that people who drove through Chino rolled up their car windows and held their noses as they drove through town. To many people who lived east of L.A., that is what Chino was known for: the rancid smell of cow dung that came from its dairy farms! If you think I am exaggerating, just drive out to Chino the next time you are in L.A. Also, when the wind blew from the south (from Chino to Ontario), the smell rested upon Ontario, even places miles away! We all knew where the smell was coming from. We shut all of the windows in our homes and we couldn’t wait for the winds to shift.
Since Kauai experiences strong winds which are known to shift, we should plan on Mahaulepu, and even Poipu and Koloa, smelling like cow dung if the proposed dairy is allowed to develop. We should also expect that this may well become what we are known for: the smell of cow dung!
Rev. Dr. Alan R. Akana
Koloa Union Church
Earth Day bad time for ‘eco-terrorists’
I have a bone to pick. This Tuesday was my mother’s birthday. She is very, very old. She has always taken such good care of me and my sisters and brothers. She has provided us tirelessly with food, water, a place to live all without asking for a thing in return.
The problem is this, on her birthday my favorite newspaper (The Garden Island, of course) decided to print an article calling me and all my brothers and sisters “eco-terrorists.” It goes on to say we are “self-proclaimed environmental activists.”
Well I can’t speak for any of my brothers or sisters but I personally have never proclaimed myself anything of the sort, I just care about my mother and I don’t like seeing people taking advantage of her. If you haven’t guessed it by now her name is Earth. And printing that on the one day of the year we take to appreciate her was very disrespectful and lacked the Aloha spirit that we try so hard to engender here on Kauai.
Lyra Drouin
Kapaa
Don’t miss ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’
This coming weekend, come see live theater in the Kauai High School gym. KPAC students from Kapaa, Kauai and Waimea High Schools will re-run Oscar Wilde’s clever comedy, “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
When this play ran in December, Kapaa resident Juday Leong said, “This is the best play I have seen in a long time.”
“These kids are so great, you forget they aren’t adults,” Wailua resident Steve Dubey said.
Stellar performances by Kauai High School seniors Connor McGrath and Logan Baptiste are complemented by their unsuspecting fiances Sara Morimoto (Kapaa High) and Sera Shimomura (Waimea High). The show also features Keri Silva, Mckenna Pascua, Ethan Whatmore, Semisi Osamu and Majael Cantu. These students recently performed in “Seussical, the Musical.”
KPAC Director Dennis McGraw envisioned these students delivering performances worthy of one of the most famous plays ever written. Pat McGrath served as assistant to the director. KPAC alumnus Jarhett Gaines supervised set design and construction. Barbara Green custom-made the period costumes.
KPAC is a State of Hawaii Department of Education gifted and talented middle and high school drama program.
Earnest will play at the Kauai High School gym on April 25 and 26 at 6 p.m. and on April 27 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $8 (cash and checks only). For more information, call 651-2417. The show is recommended for ages 13 years and older, based on its vocabulary and sophisticated humor.
Tracy Murakami
KPAC advisory board Kapaa
